Vacume chuck recomendations

Signed-In Members Don't See This Ad
Signed-In Members Don't See This Ad
I use the vacuum chuck Bill Grumbine devised with a friend of his: the VacuumMaster chuck. (http://www.wonderfulwood.com/vacuumchuck.html). You can get one from him or direct from the manufacturer.

It isn't cheap and sometimes it won't draw until you get the chuck spinning, but once past that it works fine. I bought the 325 vacuum pump from CS, you can find them used much cheaper and, in retrospect, I wish I had bought a stronger pump.

Once you get used to having a vacuum chuck around you will wonder how you managed to do without one.

Marc
 
LEAP said:
I'm looking to get a vacume chuck and wanted to know if anyone has any recommendations or reviews on chucks they have used.
Click to expand...
Phil, If you are a do it yourselfer you might be interested in having a look at these plans to build your own. Visit http://www.goldentrianglewoodturners.org/ then look to the lower right side bar where you will see "Building a Vacuum Chuck" by the Bruised brothers, one of which is John Solberg who I believe might even be an IAP member.

I've spoken with John about this and he has no plans on selling them but is more than generous in sharing his plans which are refined after building several units, perfecting them as they went along.

Having recently been bitten by the bowl bug, I am in the process if searching for a pump myself right now, everything else is obtainable at the local Home Depot or Lowes.
 
SuperDave said:
Make your own for a few dollars...

D
Click to expand...

I agree, make your own and save but it will cost you more than just a few dollars :tongue::biggrin:

There are a lot of tutorials on how to make one online and the most critical part is the mounting of the double sealed bearing(s).

If you get lucky, you can snag some used cheap vacuum pumps nowadays. Look for used industrial aircon evacuation pumps. I bought one for $7.00 :eek: and yes, it SUCKS!!! :biggrin:
 
I'm with Super Dave, you can easily make one for a few bucks. I made my entire set about 3 years ago from designs from the AAW magazine article a few years back. Only thing that would cost any appreciable amount is the small faceplates, which I had anyway. Either way, I made 4 for less than 1 Holdfast would cost. WAY less.

Wish I had the issue # handy, I'll look around later.

Dale
 
I bought a cheap one---sent it back.

Made my own----it leaked ---tossed it.

Bought a Oneway-----works perfect-----I should of done that in the first place.
 
I'm in the process of making a vacuum chuck. So far I've made two rotary adaptors. A different design to the one George linked to, without the need for the lamp rod. Both of mine leak at the bearing. I'm using a double sealed rubber bearing. Any advice on what type of bearing I should be using?

They're pretty simple to make. The first I made from wood, the second from Alumilite I cast in a 2" pvc pipe.

1_ACT_759112.jpg


1_ACT_761505.jpg
 
Thanks guys I'll have a look at the link you sent George and try to make one myself. I'm all for saving a few bucks. I have a couple of Gast pumps that got dropped off at my cousins junk yard. They both work but will only pull about 18" I will probably have to rebuild one but since they were free I can afford to put a little money into one.
 
Here are a few links... to get you started.

http://www.woodcentral.com/bparticles/smvachuck.pdf
http://www.turningwood.com/mdfchucks.htm
http://lumberjocks.com/projects/14698

The biggest savings is buying a Vacuum Pump for the right price... not just any price. Patience will pay off.
http://cgi.ebay.com/Thomas-Vacuum-P...0|66:2|65:12|39:1|240:1318|301:0|293:1|294:50
http://cgi.ebay.com/Thomas-Vacuum-P...0|66:2|65:12|39:1|240:1318|301:0|293:1|294:50
http://cgi.ebay.com/3-7-cfm-Thomas-...0|66:2|65:12|39:1|240:1318|301:0|293:1|294:50
http://cgi.ebay.com/3-7-cfm-Thomas-...0|66:2|65:12|39:1|240:1318|301:0|293:1|294:50
http://cgi.ebay.com/THOMAS-115-VOLT...0|66:2|65:12|39:1|240:1318|301:0|293:2|294:50

My friend and I started making our own. He is retired and did his in an afternoon. I have to work for a living and have not finished mine. I can post some pictures of his sometime later in this thread... if I can remember :wink:

I bought two Gast Vacuum Pumps on eBay, complete, for $35 each. The rest was Borg parts for less than $25, including PVC pipe and some foam for the chuck and some scrap wood. Sure beats $200 - $600 for a commercial unit... though the Oneway Spun Aluminum Chucks are "purdie" to look at...
http://cgi.ebay.com/Oneway-Woodturn...0|66:2|65:12|39:1|240:1318|301:1|293:1|294:50

We use another one in the shop for vacuum pattern jigs on the routers... It really is not hard to make anything involving vacuum...

D


Texatdurango said:
I'm probably looking at around $180 following the recommendations on John's site. What is a few dollars? Any more details? :)
Click to expand...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom